editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Lulu Garcia-Navarro is the host of Weekend Edition Sunday . She is infamous in the IT department of NPR for losing laptops to bullets, hurricanes, and bomb blasts. Before joining the Sunday morning team, she served an NPR correspondent based in Brazil, Israel, Mexico, and Iraq. She was one of the first reporters to enter Libya after the 2011 Arab Spring uprising began and spent months painting a deep and vivid portrait of a country at war. Often at great personal risk, Garcia-Navarro captured history in the making with stunning insight, courage, and humanity. For her work covering the Arab Spring, Garcia-Navarro was awarded a 2011 George Foster Peabody Award, a Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club, an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Alliance for Women and the Media's Gracie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement. She contributed to NPR News reporting on Iraq, which was recognized with a 2005 Peabody Award and a 2007 AlfredNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Lourdes Garcia-NavarroWed, 13 Dec 2017 01:19:57 +0000Lourdes Garcia-Navarrohttp://apr.org
Just off a Houston freeway, in a strip mall with an Indian tailor and South Asian grocery store, is a small restaurant with an out-size reputation. It's called Himalaya and its chef and owner is a Houston institution. Chef Kaiser Lashkari is a large man with a bushy salt-and-pepper mustache. He's constantly in motion — greeting clients, inspecting steaming dishes carried by busy waiters, calling out to his wife overseeing the kitchen. He offers us food before we've even sat down. "Let's feed you first, that's what we are all about, to put a smile on your face with good food," he says. That food has made this humble eatery among the best restaurants in the city, topping the lists of every Houston publication and more recently, after a visit from Anthony Bourdain in 2016, the country. Creamy chai is set on the table then vegetable fritters, and spicy samosas. "Just grab it Indian style with your hands," Lashkari advises. "No formalities. All fat-free, sugar-free, cholesterol-free andA Visit To Houston's Himalaya: Pakistani And Indian Food With Deep Texas Rootshttp://apr.org/post/visit-houstons-himalaya-pakistani-and-indian-food-deep-texas-roots
121401 as http://apr.orgSun, 10 Dec 2017 12:46:00 +0000A Visit To Houston's Himalaya: Pakistani And Indian Food With Deep Texas RootsLourdes Garcia-NavarroIt's that time of year — Sugar Plum fairies dancing in delight, the Mouse King, a gorgeous Christmas party, a prince, and that instantly recognizable music. The Nutcracker ballet is a beloved holiday perennial, but Wicked author Gregory Maguire's new novel Hiddensee — which is based on the Nutcracker tale — is not exactly meant for the kiddos. It tells the backstory of the powerful toymaker, Herr Drosselmeier, who gives the Nutcracker to Clara. "Like most Americans, maybe people around the world, I saw the ballet," Maguire says. "And one of the things that captivated me about it was that scene where the Christmas tree grows 40,50, 60 feet high, and that seemed to be one of the most magical transformations I have ever seen on the stage, even if the rest of the story seemed to me demented." Interview Highlights On why he thinks it's "demented" It's crazy! It's broken! It doesn't make any sense. Act I is the traditional tale, that you might find in Grimm, with the small powerless ClaraIn 'Hiddensee,' Gregory Maguire Gets Under The Shell Of 'The Nutcracker'http://apr.org/post/hiddensee-gregory-maguire-gets-under-shell-nutcracker
121007 as http://apr.orgSun, 03 Dec 2017 13:08:00 +0000In 'Hiddensee,' Gregory Maguire Gets Under The Shell Of 'The Nutcracker'Lourdes Garcia-NavarroIf you're reading this through some kind of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi gadget, here's an interesting fact: Some ideas behind that technology can be traced back to a famous actress from the 1930s. Her name was Hedy Lamarr. The story of this stunning beauty of the silver screen is told in the new documentary Bombshell . From a scandalous debut in the pre-war European film Ecstasy to Hollywood films including Algiers and Samson And Delilah , the documentary tells little-known details of how she was worked grueling days by Hollywood producers and spent her nights in her own laboratory where she loved to invent. "She had this double identity that is so fascinating to all of us," says Alexandra Dean, the director of Bombshell. "She was on sound stages all day with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Jimmy Stewart – I mean, the biggest stars. And at night, she was going home and inventing. And she was inventing with her sometime-boyfriend, Howard Hughes. "He gave her the laboratory; he gave her access to hisIn 'Bombshell,' The Double Identity Of Hollywood Star Hedy Lamarrhttp://apr.org/post/bombshell-double-identity-hollywood-star-hedy-lamarr
121009 as http://apr.orgSun, 03 Dec 2017 13:08:00 +0000In 'Bombshell,' The Double Identity Of Hollywood Star Hedy LamarrLourdes Garcia-NavarroIn a new hour-long special, "Sexual Harassment: A Moment of Reckoning," Weekend Edition Sunday host Lulu Garcia-Navarro takes a deep dive into a national conversation that is growing louder by the day. It's a conversation that has been fed by scandals that have implicated powerful people from the entertainment industry to the media — including NPR — raising the possibility that we're seeing the beginning of a cultural shift. Part 1: The floodgates have opened. Why now? NPR correspondent Elizabeth Blair explores that question when she reaches back to another pivotal moment, when Anita Hill testified before a Senate committee in 1991 about her own workplace harassment. Part 2: It's a men's issue. Men weigh in. Wade Hankin , a 25-year-old man from Seattle, launched a partner hashtag to #metoo — #ihave — in a post in which he admitted his own inappropriate actions involving women and encouraged other men to do so as well. Radio journalist Mary Beth Kirchner profiles Jackson Katz , anSexual Harassment: Have We Reached A Cultural Turning Point?http://apr.org/post/special-report-cultural-turning-point-sexual-harassment
120279 as http://apr.orgSun, 19 Nov 2017 16:12:00 +0000Sexual Harassment: Have We Reached A Cultural Turning Point?Lourdes Garcia-NavarroWriter Tracy Baptiste was born in Trinidad where she grew up on fairy tales and the spoken folk tales of the island, including stories about creatures called jumbies. The mythical monsters inspired her to write her own Caribbean folk tale for middle schoolers. Now, she's written a sequel that dives further into island mythology, as well as the darker side of its history. The novel, Rise of the Jumbies, centers around Corinne, the fiercely independent and half-jumbie main character. During her adventures throughout the book, Corinnne travels to West Africa, home of jumbie mythology, where she learns about the history of the Atlantic slave trade. Baptiste first heard about jumbies when she was a child. "They will eat you if they get half the chance to eat you," she jokes. As a kid, she heard stories about how jumbies would keep kids in line at night by hovering outside their homes and making sure they didn't wander around or leave the house. Baptiste spoke with NPR's Lulu Garcia-NavarroAuthor Explores A Dark History Through A Magical Story In 'Rise Of The Jumbies'http://apr.org/post/tackling-dark-subject-young-readers
119909 as http://apr.orgSun, 12 Nov 2017 12:52:00 +0000Author Explores A Dark History Through A Magical Story In 'Rise Of The Jumbies'Lourdes Garcia-NavarroIn the new movie Wonder , Julia Roberts plays the mother of a child named August Pullman who was born with severe facial differences. It's prevented Auggie from going to a mainstream school until now, when he's about to enter fifth grade at the local elementary school. Wonder is based on a novel of the same title by R.J. Palacio. Roberts says she was attracted to the project because she loved the book, and shared it with her three children. "I had read it myself," she says. "I'd brought it home to my kids, we all read it together – and we were all just so moved as a family. And really great conversations were coming out of it, and ideas, and thoughts and feelings why this person would have done this, or wouldn't have done that." We spoke about her role as Isabel Pullman, among other things. Interview Highlights On Wonder 's theme of attempting to see people beyond preconceptions or appearances It's too pertinent, isn't it? You know, it's a hard time, as parents, to explain the world,Julia Roberts Is Mom In 'Wonder,' And In Lifehttp://apr.org/post/julia-roberts-mom-wonder-and-life
119910 as http://apr.orgSun, 12 Nov 2017 12:52:00 +0000Julia Roberts Is Mom In 'Wonder,' And In LifeLourdes Garcia-NavarroYou scroll through your friend's Instagram feed and see the most beautiful setting, and think: "I want to go there." And so you do. According to travel photographer Brent Knepper, you are part of the problem. In The Outline's article " Instagram is Loving Nature to Death ," Knepper says that thanks to the photo sharing app, some of the best-kept secrets of the natural world are drawing big crowds and literally altering the landscape. Knepper tells NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro about some of the idyllic locations that are seemingly being ruined because of exposure on Instagram. Interview Highlights On Horseshoe Bend in northern Arizona Horseshoe Bend is this beautiful spot 7 miles up the Colorado River from the Grand Canyon. It's in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and the bend is very unique as far as waterway travels down there. It makes a complete 180-degree turn in a canyon 1,000 feet deep. From the viewing point at the top, you get this amazing view of this horseshoe shape,Instagram Crowds May Be Ruining Naturehttp://apr.org/post/instagram-crowds-may-be-ruining-nature
119903 as http://apr.orgSun, 12 Nov 2017 12:31:00 +0000Instagram Crowds May Be Ruining NatureLourdes Garcia-NavarroThe actress Krysten Ritter is best known for strong and complicated characters like the superhero-turned-detective Jessica Jones , star of her own Netflix series. Ritter was raised in small Pennsylvannia farm town, which inspired her debut novel Bonfire , a dark thriller about about environmental pollution, secrets and abuse. "I'm from a small town, a farm, a hundred acres," she says. "A few years ago, the frackers came in and wanted to frack on the property ... not really telling them what the environmental consequences would be. And that was something I thought about a lot." Ritter's protagonist is Abby Williams. She's an environmental lawyer from a difficult background — her mom died when she was young, and she was kind of an outcast in school. The story begins when Williams unwillingly comes back to her home town of Barrens, Ind. to investigate why people are getting sick. Interview Highlights On why Ritter chose to have a character who didn't want to come home Well, it's realIn 'Bonfire,' Krysten Ritter Digs Up Dirt Both Environmental And Emotionalhttp://apr.org/post/messy-protagonist-bonfire
119547 as http://apr.orgSun, 05 Nov 2017 13:06:00 +0000In 'Bonfire,' Krysten Ritter Digs Up Dirt Both Environmental And EmotionalLourdes Garcia-NavarroDrew and Jonathan Scott struggled for years to break into the entertainment industry. So the twin brothers decided to open a real estate services company to pay the bills as they continued trying to become stars. Then, they got an idea — why not combine their two pursuits? And thus, the Property Brothers were born. Drew and Jonathan now host the smash-hit home renovation show Property Brothers (and its spinoffs) on HGTV, where they do about 50 actual renovations a year for television cameras. Their journey is documented in their new memoir It Takes Two: Our Story . Interview Highlights On the start of Property Brothers Drew Scott: So way back, Jonathan and I were – we were entertainers as kids. We were actors; we did theater, musicals; we ended up getting into commercials and some TV spots. Actually, one of our jobs, we were clowns. We had all this energy, so our parents figured, 'Go be clowns, and get rid of the energy, so by the time you come home you're calmed down a bit.' ... YouThe Property Brothers Flip A Page On Their TV Triumphshttp://apr.org/post/property-brothers-flip-page-their-tv-triumphs
119548 as http://apr.orgSun, 05 Nov 2017 13:06:00 +0000The Property Brothers Flip A Page On Their TV TriumphsLourdes Garcia-NavarroCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: The president of Iraq's Kurdish region, Masoud Barzani, says he's stepping down after 12 years in power. The move follows a Kurdish referendum on independence, which has destabilized this already volatile region. For more, we're joined by NPR's Jane Arraf. She's in the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil. Good morning. JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Good morning, Lulu. GARCIA-NAVARRO: So, Jane, this is an important development. Can you explain to us why? ARRAF: Yes. Well, as you know, Barzani is part of the landscape here. And while he does have a lot of very fierce critics, you know, a lot of people here see him - a lot of his supporters see him as a father figure. So he launched on this path to pursue a process of independence. And despite warnings not to do it, Kurds went to the polls last month, and they voted in favor of supporting independence. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Explain to us what the repercussions have been from that very keyKurdish President Steps Downhttp://apr.org/post/kurdish-president-steps-down
119156 as http://apr.orgSun, 29 Oct 2017 19:54:00 +0000Kurdish President Steps DownLourdes Garcia-NavarroRight after the U.S. election last year, Mike Tippett saw an opportunity. He'd been talking to his friends in Silicon Valley and they were nervous about the newly elected president's attitude toward immigration. "Many of the start-ups and technology companies in the States and across the globe are made up of people who are not necessarily from that country," Tippett says. Almost half of all American start-ups were actually founded by immigrants. When Donald Trump took office, American tech companies worried that getting international employees work visas in the U.S. would get a lot harder. But Tippett had a solution to offer them: move to Vancouver. Vancouver's tech industry has been growing for years now, with companies like Amazon, Slack, Microsoft and SAP all with large headquarters there. It's a quick flight from San Francisco, and a two-hour drive from Seattle. It's in the same time zone with the same language. Labor is also cheaper. Tippett predicted there would be a surge ofCanada's 'Welcome' To Immigrants Has Some Unintended Consequenceshttp://apr.org/post/canadas-welcome-immigrants-has-some-unintended-consequences
119146 as http://apr.orgSun, 29 Oct 2017 12:41:00 +0000Canada's 'Welcome' To Immigrants Has Some Unintended ConsequencesLourdes Garcia-NavarroCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: The United States and Canada - the world's largest trading partners with the world's longest-shared border. We share intelligence, a language, Justin Bieber. In fact, the relationship is so stable that, let's be honest here, we often take them for granted. But as I discovered on my recent trip to British Columbia, Canadians are not happy with us right now or, more specifically, our president. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're working right now on NAFTA - the horrible, terrible NAFTA deal. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) TRUMP: Canada - what they've done to our dairy farm workers is a disgrace. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) TRUMP: We'll see what happens. It's possible we won't be able to make a deal. And it's possible that we will. GARCIA-NAVARRO: President Trump plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement - or NAFTA. And many Canadians feel like Chris Finnis (ph). IWhat's At Stake For Canada In NAFTAhttp://apr.org/post/whats-stake-canada-nafta
119147 as http://apr.orgSun, 29 Oct 2017 12:07:00 +0000What's At Stake For Canada In NAFTALourdes Garcia-NavarroCharlene Aleck, an elected councilor of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, stands on the rocky beach of an inlet in British Columbia where flat waters are surrounded by hills, covered with evergreens. These are the Tsleil-Waututh Nation's ancestral lands. Their name means 'people of the inlet' and their creation story is about these waters, just east of Vancouver; they have inhabited this place for thousands of years. A bright red ship floats next to two giant storage tanks at an oil terminal on the other shore. The Trans Mountain Pipeline ends here, filled with oil from the landlocked Alberta Tar Sands, 700 miles away. Kinder Morgan, the Houston-based company which runs the pipeline, is planning to expand it, increasing its capacity threefold. The expansion would mean many more oil tankers moving through these waters, waters the Tsleil-Waututh harvested until the 20 th century, when industrial pollution made it impossible. "The concerns are the pipeline expansion terminates right — I don'tCanada's Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Faces Oppositionhttp://apr.org/post/canadas-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-faces-opposition
119149 as http://apr.orgSun, 29 Oct 2017 12:07:00 +0000Canada's Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Faces OppositionLourdes Garcia-NavarroIt's raining — of course — when we meet novelist Jen Sookfong Lee outside the Ten Ren Tea shop in Vancouver's Chinatown. About 49% of the population here is ethnic Asian — and over half of that is Chinese. Lee's novels explore Chinese-Canadian identity, and the repercussions of immigration in the city of Vancouver. Her grandfather was a Chinese immigrant who came to this city at the turn of the century — and we're meeting her because this used to be his barber shop. Most of the shop is taken up by shelves full of brightly packaged canisters of tea, and teapots, cups and saucers for sale. But there's a table in the back corner where the employees brew samples for customers. We pick out some jasmine tea to try, and settle down to talk with Lee about the neighborhood. "My mom would bring me down here every weekend to buy groceries. And everywhere we went, people knew us, because my grandfather eventually became kind of a leader for his community, so everybody knew who we were and wouldTea And Memories With Vancouver Author Jen Sookfong Leehttp://apr.org/post/tea-and-memories-vancouver-author-jen-sookfong-lee
119138 as http://apr.orgSun, 29 Oct 2017 11:03:00 +0000Tea And Memories With Vancouver Author Jen Sookfong LeeLourdes Garcia-NavarroTwo witchy sisters, a family curse on love and lots of potions and hexes: author Alice Hoffman is returning to the story of the Owens family. She introduced the fictional family in the 1995 novel Practical Magic , which was turned into a film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Now, in The Rules Of Magic , we go backward in time to learn the histories of the aunts in that saga. "I'm just interested in what makes a family, and going back in history to see," Hoffman says. "I always feel like you can never really know certain people in your family – your mother, your father, your aunts – because you didn't know them when they were young." Hoffman locates the Owens clan in the New York City of the 1960s, where sisters Francis and Jet come of age alongside their brother Vincent – and learn that they might have magical powers. Interview Highlights On introducing the character Vincent, who did not appear in Practical Magic It wasn't really my choice, you know? I think sometimes you'reIn 1960s New York, Witchy Women Learn 'The Rules Of Magic'http://apr.org/post/1960s-new-york-witchy-women-learn-rules-magic
118095 as http://apr.orgSun, 08 Oct 2017 11:52:00 +0000In 1960s New York, Witchy Women Learn 'The Rules Of Magic'Lourdes Garcia-NavarroLike many Americans, Chris Michel woke up Monday morning to the horrific news of the massacre in Las Vegas, which left 58 people dead as well as the shooter Stephen Paddock and nearly 500 injured. Michel, who owns Dixie GunWorx, tells NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro that he remembers Paddock coming into his store on three occasions earlier this year. Michel says he spends a lot of time talking with his customers, so he can screen them. To him, Paddock didn't seem suspicious or off in any way. So Michel sold him a gun. Authorities have identified 47 firearms owned by Paddock — and one of them, a shotgun, was sold to him by Michel. Now in the aftermath of the mass shooting, Michel is doing some soul-searching. He discusses with Lulu all that has been going through his mind since he heard the identity of the shooter. Interview Highlights On what questions he has been asking himself The biggest thing ... for me, specifically because I was the one that ended up doing the final sale to him is: DidSalesman Who Sold A Shotgun To Las Vegas Shooter: 'Could I Have Stopped This? No'http://apr.org/post/salesman-who-sold-gun-las-vegas-shooter-could-i-have-stopped-no
118086 as http://apr.orgSun, 08 Oct 2017 10:21:00 +0000Salesman Who Sold A Shotgun To Las Vegas Shooter: 'Could I Have Stopped This? No'Lourdes Garcia-NavarroFifty years ago, Jane Fonda and Robert Redford played newlyweds in the classic comedy Barefoot In The Park . In the new film Our Souls At Night , they reunite as a different pair of bedfellows. Fonda's Addie Moore is a widow who works up the courage to ask her neighbor, the widower Louis Waters (played by Redford), to sleep with her. Her request isn't for sex, but for platonic company. Of course, their small town begins to gossip, and their relationship becomes romantic over time. The Netflix production is based on Kent Haruf 's eponymous book. When Redford read it, he sent it to Fonda right away. "She's all I thought of," he says. "When I read the book, she's all I thought of." Fonda interjects: "Because he's smart." Interview Highlights On working together again Jane Fonda: I never thought I'd get a chance to do this towards the end of my life. It's like bookends — there was [ The ] Chase and Barefoot In The Park , and then Our Souls At Night at the other end of life. That just feltIn 'Our Souls At Night,' Robert Redford And Jane Fonda Stage A Twilight Reunionhttp://apr.org/post/our-souls-night-robert-redford-and-jane-fonda-stage-twilight-reunion
117735 as http://apr.orgSun, 01 Oct 2017 12:09:00 +0000In 'Our Souls At Night,' Robert Redford And Jane Fonda Stage A Twilight ReunionLourdes Garcia-NavarroJeffrey Eugenides is well known for novels like The Virgin Suicides and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Middlesex . But his latest work, a collection of short stories, marks a departure. "Short stories are difficult, maddening little puzzles," he says, "and I've been trying to learn how to write them since I first started to write." Eugenides' new book, Fresh Complaint , is made up of 10 short stories that he wrote over a span of many years. Interview Highlights On how he chose which stories to include in Fresh Complaint These are all the stories that I wrote and deemed worthy for consumption in my life. There [are] a lot of other ones that are in various boxes and desks, but this goes back to the first story I ever had published, which was in The Gettysburg Review . You know, it's almost like reading your diary from your 20s. When I read the story, I remember who I was and what I was reading and what I was thinking about in terms of literature at that time. On what connects the stories YouJeffrey Eugenides Calls Short Stories 'Maddening' — And Now He Has A Collectionhttp://apr.org/post/jeffrey-eugenides-calls-short-stories-maddening-and-now-he-has-collection
117736 as http://apr.orgSun, 01 Oct 2017 12:09:00 +0000Jeffrey Eugenides Calls Short Stories 'Maddening' — And Now He Has A CollectionLourdes Garcia-NavarroThe 1782 French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses — a steamy story of aristocrats behaving badly — has been told many times over the centuries in adaptations for the stage and screen. A new retelling, Unforgivable Love, has just as much betrayal and bed-hopping as the original, but in a new setting: glamourous, 1940s Harlem. Author Sophfronia Scott says she was inspired to set the story in high society Harlem by the story of Madam C.J. Walker — a wealthy, African-American entrepreneur who made her fortune in beauty and hair products. "I just thought: Well, what if this decadent, beautiful story played out among the elite of Harlem?" Scott says. "People who went to the fabulous night clubs and listened to all of the wonderful jazz ... and wore the styles of Paris. I kept thinking about people like Lena Horne and the beautiful gowns that she wore in those movies. I thought: Let's tell that story that way." Interview Highlights On why she wanted to retell Dangerous Liaisons The story is'Unforgivable Love' Resets Steamy 'Dangerous Liaisons' In 1940s Harlemhttp://apr.org/post/unforgivable-love-resets-steamy-dangerous-liaisons-1940s-harlem
117381 as http://apr.orgSun, 24 Sep 2017 12:02:00 +0000'Unforgivable Love' Resets Steamy 'Dangerous Liaisons' In 1940s HarlemLourdes Garcia-NavarroCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: While much of the U.S. mainland that was in Hurricane Irma's path escaped relatively unscathed, many islands in the Caribbean were not so lucky. Elizabeth Smith (ph) is in the U.S. Virgin Islands on the island of St. Croix. She's in graduate school for marine and environmental sciences. Some of her friends' homes on the hard-hit island of St. Thomas sustained critical damage - lost their roofs, flooded. ELIZABETH SMITH: These houses are concrete houses with steel reinforcements. These are not wooden houses or anything like that. These are houses built for hurricanes with hurricane shutters. MARTIN: She told us on Skype that she's been helping in any way that she can. SMITH: I've been trying to secure ferries and find leaving boats between the islands to try and get my friends here. I've set up my spare room in my house trying to house as many people and pets as possible. MARTIN: Downed trees and power lines have been the bigMiami Region Cleans Up After Hurricane Irmahttp://apr.org/post/miami-cleans-after-hurricane-irma
116823 as http://apr.orgTue, 12 Sep 2017 09:05:00 +0000Miami Region Cleans Up After Hurricane Irma